Creating Indigenous Property: Power, Rights, and Relationships provides a welcome departure from the investigatory methods of colonial apologists that fall short of interrogatory power in the search for confirmation of settler-colonial ideologies. The editors of this collection of essays, Angela Cameron, Sari Graben, and Val Napoleon, eschew the familiar approach that accentuates secular humanitarianism and missionary intervention in the lives of colonized First Peoples. As a whole, the contributions submit a vital and stimulating interpretation of the significance of property in Indigenous contexts and put forward an effective socio-legal investigation of the important characteristics of Indigenous land and rights based on Indigenous prior ownership of land. Notably, a twofold approach usefully investigates previous and contemporary Indigenous legal traditions and property rights. Cameron, Graben, and Napoleon expertly incorporate a critique of the limitations of legal scholarly discourse through an examination of the ways in which scholarly law literature continues to reproduce itself within the colonial paradigm. As a whole, the essays simultaneously evaluate the one-size-fits-all means of thinking about Indigenous law and philosophy. They do so broadly through a range of investigations into the forms of social organization that exist within Indigenous communities.
Further, Creating Indigenous Property contributes to socio-legal scholarship by investigating Indigenous land excise in a comparative context, effectively drawing attention to the importance of Indigenous law through explorations of the traditional practices that, in contemporary society, continue to preside over multi-species relationships relating to land and that underscore the social interconnection that is present in Indigenous communities.
These aspects of Canadian society are thoroughly examined over four separate sections focused on the imperative of Indigenous law in the privatization of land. The essays in part one, “Indigenous Law in Practice,” put forward Indigenous perspectives on housing and feminist property theory, market citizenship, and the principle of sharing under the auspices of Canadian property law. The essays in part 2, “Political Issues,” are focused on broader political issues and property rights on reserves, with several insights on Indigenous land rights and the politics of property. Part three, “Common Law's Response,” offers analysis of the common law response and the new lawmaking powers of First Nations over family homes on Indian reserves. The essays on part four, “Lessons from the Transnational Context,” offer comparative investigations, including a chapter on Niger Delta peoples’ decision making about land rights and oil and gas development.
In a lengthy in-depth introductory framework, Cameron, Graben, and Napoleon advance a succinct analysis of the recurring experiences of the privatization of Indigenous lands. They presents a most informative exploration of the ways in which individual rights are intimately connected by means of jointly owned land systems while emphasizing the importance of the responsibility that is inherent to multiparty property ownership. In chapter 2, Shalene Jobin provides a thorough and close critical discussion of market citizenship, neoliberalism, and Indigenous Peoples and advocates the transcendence of examinations of colonialism to take account of Indigenous practices to better inform future economic interactions. In chapter 3, Sarah Morales and Brian Thom usefully explain how Canadian law has sought to undermine Indigenous law and approaches to land and property. In chapter 9, Ibironke Odumosu-Ayanu explores the power of the negotiating voice in the process of decision making in oil and gas development on existing land rights and draws attention to the need for land security for Niger Delta peoples.
Some contributors use legal methodologies to articulate a reconfiguration of Indigenous law. For example, in chapter 1, Napoleon and Emily Snyder assert that gender is central to the concern of Indigenous law with property. Interrogations of gender are part of the discussion of the ways in which Indigenous People negotiate within this legal order and make decisions to resolve problems of limited resources and difficult relationships within the territories. Also discussed are the ways in which Indigenous Peoples resolve conflicts, for example, the ways in which families respond to marriage dissolution and the responsibilities to children in such circumstances. The authors also use extant stories and oral histories from several Indigenous communities. For example, in chapter 1, Napoleon and Snyder explore Tsimshian property law to gain knowledge about a legal order that underlies legal processes and procedures and highlights the importance of the rights that are formed in collaboration with the community. Additionally, they consider the kinds of collaborative efforts that will be most valuable to the community in the future.
Taken as a whole, Creating Indigenous Property proposes that Indigenous societies have economic value formed by specific Indigenous meaning, ethics to address the contradictions and conflicts that exist within communities and multi-species relationships to land. Overall, Creating Indigenous Property presents a nuanced approach to Indigenous law and advocates an approach that is centered on a revised property theory and a gendered analytical approach to better evaluate the distribution of resources, with attention to foundational socio-legal knowledge of Indigenous land and land rights. The book will be indispensable to those who wish to attain a meaningful understanding of Indigenous lands and land rights.
